Welcome to World Wise Beauty’s Passioneer department! I love the quote streaming out of the typewriter because it speaks to my spirit and my mission at World Wise Beauty. Each week I will share quotes that speak to the soul of ‘Passioneers’ today. Pursuing your passion isn’t just about starting a business or becoming an entrepreneur, it is really about engaging in an activity that taps into a state of flow, bliss and sense of purpose. We feel the most energized when we are doing what we love. Not all of us are going to start a business, but we still can take our passions and talent and make a living doing what we love. It is possible, even if some people close to you say ‘you have to be practical’. Well, there are practical ways to pursue your passions, and we will explore them here…

I just recently saw a movie called ‘Little Bit of Chaos’ and it was so inspiring! It was absolutely one of the most beautiful films I have seen in a long time. Romance, Botanical Beauty, France and Wisdom. It was like I died and went to heaven! Okay, enough of my drooling, and back to the inspiring part and how it makes me think about today’s ‘Passioneers’.

‘Passion is in our Nature’

A LITTLE CHAOS follows Sabine, a strong-willed landscape designer who challenges sexual and class barriers when she is chosen to build one of the main gardens at King Louis XIV’s new palace at Versailles, causing her to become professionally and romantically entangled with the court’s renowned landscape architect André Le Notre (Schoenaerts). Yes it’s about a romance, but it was really about so much more than that. The main character is a woman, and a women of that time would have been considered mere ‘decorative objects’. But ‘Sabine’ was an architect/landscape designer who runs up against the assumption that a woman isn’t up to the task. What else is new right? In this story she proves them wrong! Won’t tell you anymore, because I want you to go see it!

In my eyes, Sabine was a Passioneer. She loved what she did and had her own creative vision of what could be. To use an overused cliché, she was ‘thinking outside of the box’. Today we elevate “Steve Jobs’ (the creator of Apple) to a superpower status, because essentially he was a ‘Passioneer’. He had a vision, and while he intuitively knew it would please us, he wasn’t creating solely for that reason. In some ways he didn’t care what we thought. He had a vision and a passion for design, aesthetics and technology. This ‘passion’ drove his work. Sabine was driven the same way, and you pick this up in nuances throughout the movie. She was naturally wise and brave because she ‘shared her truth’ when asked.

Today we use business expressions like ‘disrupters’ and sometimes I am not entirely sure if all of the so-called ‘disrupters’ are truly passioneers, but I’ll leave that for others to argue. Passioneers don’t aim to disrupt, they just have a vision and are compelled to bring it to life with passion. I believe we all are passioneers in some sense. The challenge for you is to ‘know what it is’! Not always an easy task when we are told early on to become a doctor, lawyer and corporate chief!

The reality of today is we live in a world of shifting marketplaces, economic upheavals, and a technology driven world where change is happening faster than we ever thought possible. Ironically, the title of the movie “Little Bit of Chaos’ does describe the world we are living in, as we are experiencing change at the speed of light! And because of this, what you need to be is incredibly adaptive to survive in today’s world economy. This sadly sometimes translates for many to having three and four jobs just to get by. But it is also just a reality of today’s marketplace where we are all ‘free agents’ and don’t necessarily have the security of working and retiring with one company like our parents did.

So, whether you are just entering the workplace, or are out on a limb forced to reinvent at 50, I hope you can embrace with me the ‘Passioneer’ philosophy. We are not all doomed to work at Starbucks forever! ( not a bad gig, but often part-time work for most) There are rewarding and exciting new job opportunities in the new economy, that exist both in the small business world and with emerging international entrepreneurial driven companies. To give this idea more potency, it is predicted that more than 50% of our workers will be engaged in some form of entrepreneurial work by the end of this decade. Why not be a ‘Passioneer’? Remember they can’t bottle your ‘passion’ because it is unique to you! 😉

Follow World Wise Beauty and my Passioneer department, and be inspired by women ( and men) who are following their passion and mastering the ‘art of making a living’. Just in the last two years I have profiled the most inspiring people (and not all women) who didn’t want to sell their ‘soul’ to their jobs. Instead they followed their passions and used their natural talents to create a ‘living’, while also making a unique contribution to the world at large. Below are just a few posts I have shared to inspire you, but you will also find practical posts that offer ‘real world tips’ on following your passion.

These are just a few examples of the “Passioneers’ I have been featuring. Yes, many are in the beauty, health and wellness sector, which is really no surprise. Wellness inspires “Passion’ because we have to feel well to live well! There is more to come here at World Wise Beauty and you can count on me to present practical and inspiring posts for all you budding Passioneers!

I hope the takeaway for you is, there are all kinds of ways to make a living, so it may as well be doing something you excel at, and have a passion for! Don’t forget the art of making the most of life may involve ‘a little bit of chaos’ but it will be so worthwhile…

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There has been a lot of talk about ‘the gut’ lately amongst medical researchers and scientist. You might be thinking ‘Do I really want to be reading about bacteria and stomach bile’? What I will say to you is this,” Toughen up, you can stomach it!”. We often hear the expression ‘go with your gut’ and maybe there is good reason we use that expression. A gut feeling might manifest as a quick heartbeat or a stomach-ache instead of a conscious thought, giving the phrase “trust your gut” a much more literal meaning. Think about all the common expressions we use almost on a daily basis about the stomach…

butterflies in one’s stomach

cast-iron stomach

eyes are bigger than one’s stomach

feel sick to stomach

have butterflies in stomach

have no stomach for

pit of stomach

go with your gut

settle stomach

sick to one’s stomach

turn one’s stomach

way to a man’s heart is through his stomach

It turns out the ‘gut’ is pretty important to our overall health and it really matters. It is so important that a young microbiologist in Germany, Giula Enders wrote an International bestseller entitled Gut’ The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ’. Just released over a month ago here in North America, the New York Times profiled her interesting personal story about finding treatment for what seemed to be a ‘mysterious illness’. The whole journey inspired her to go on to acquire her PhD in microbiology. Following is an excerpt from the NYT profile…

Back in 2007, after a series of mostly ineffective treatments prescribed by doctors, Ms. Enders, then 17, decided to take matters into her own hands. Convinced that her illness was somehow associated with her intestines, she pored over gastroenterological research, consumed probiotic bacterial cultures meant to aid digestion and tried out mineral supplements. The experiments worked (although she is not sure which one did the trick) leaving her with healthy skin and new-found interest in her intestines.

In her book, she catalogs the myriad elaborate operations that our guts dutifully perform every day, like the cleaning mechanism that kicks in a few hours after we eat and keeps the small intestine — all 20 or so feet of it — remarkably tidy. This “little housekeeper,” as Ms. Enders calls it, turns out to be the real source of the grumbling that most attribute to the stomach and mistake as a sign of hunger.

Then there is the growing body of research indicating that our intestines may have a far greater influence on our feelings, decisions and behavior than previously realized. The primary evidence for this, Ms. Enders writes, is the vast network of nerves attached to our guts that monitors our deepest internal experiences and sends information to the brain, including to those regions responsible for self-awareness, memory and even morality

So, this is a woman who is listening to her gut, and certainly trusted her instincts. There has been research going on for a number of years on the eco-system of your intestines. Many women who have suffered with yeast infections have become more familiar with the balance of flora in their bodies than they ever wanted to. In fact, in the 90’s, a condition called Candida became a popular condition that many women seemed to be struggling with. Essentially they had an overgrowth of yeast and imbalance of bad bacteria living in their lower intestines. Yes there is good bacteria and bad bacteria. Wondering what the biggest driver of an overgrowth of bad bacteria is? Sugar, yes good old sugar. Or should I say bad? Yeast feeds on sugar. Isn’t it amazing that we are just coming to terms with the idea that too much sugar is just downright TERRIBLE for our bodies. Here are a few things that can contribute to an overgrowth of bad bacteria.

Eating a diet high in beneficial fermented foods (like Kombucha, sauerkraut and pickles)

Living a high-stress lifestyle ( more chemistry interference)

Taking a round of antibiotics that killed too many of those friendly bacteria

Keep in mind that fermented foods can actually be quite helpful in balancing the bacteria in your gut, but it’s a fine balance. Like anything, too much, tips the scales the other way. The symptom list is quite broad which is why many doctors did not take the Candida condition seriously 15 years ago. Now there is growing research on the importance of bacteria in our gut, and Greek yogurt and a popular brand called “Activia’ are now commonplace aides. What we Americans became particularly familiar with was antibiotics ( which were over prescribed in our country). We learned that pro-biotics and yogurt could be helpful in getting our ‘flora’ back in check after the anti-biotics killed off all the good stuff! As you can see, the symptom list below is quite extensive. But usually having just a handful of them points to overgrowth of bad bacteria in your gut.

Skin and nail fungal infections, such as athlete’s foot or toenail fungus

Feeling tired and worn down, or suffering from chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia

I shared all of this to give context to the importance of our ‘gut’. It really is an important hub in our body and can run things in our bodies quite smoothly when we are treating ourselves well. It also can create a lot of havoc when we are not! If you think you have the Candidia condition, find yourself a good D.O doc or one that specializes in functional medicine, who can help you get to the bottom of your condition with a holistic approach.

Not convinced yet? Take a look at this recent post from Science Daily. Below is an excerpt from the article…

In recent years, research into the benefits of gut bacteria has exploded. Scientists across the globe are examining how these microbes can help improve health and prevent disease.”In coming years, scientists will learn a great deal about the microbes that exist within us…

This is pretty exciting stuff, and what is encouraging is we are learning that our diet and lifestyle can keep at bay a lot of nasty conditions that begin in the gut when we mistreat it! Another interesting article just this past week, from the New York Times, explores the real connection between our gut and our brain. This whole area of mircobiome research is groundbreaking, and we can see how introducing foreign substances to our body can be very damaging. See the excerpt below and reference to ‘side effects of pharmaceutical drugs’.

Can the Bacteria in Your Gut Explain Your Mood? by Peter Andrey Smith

Illustration by Andrew Rae/New York Times Article

Since 2007, when scientists announced plans for a Human Microbiome Project to catalog the micro-organisms living in our body, the profound appreciation for the influence of such organisms has grown rapidly with each passing year. Bacteria in the gut produce vitamins and break down our food; their presence or absence has been linked to obesity, inflammatory bowel disease and the toxic side effects of prescription drugs. Biologists now believe that much of what makes us human depends on microbial activity. The two million unique bacterial genes found in each human microbiome can make the 23,000 genes in our cells seem paltry, almost negligible, by comparison. ‘‘It has enormous implications for the sense of self,’’ Tom Insel, the director of the National Institute of Mental Health, told me. ‘‘We are, at least from the standpoint of DNA, more microbial than human. That’s a phenomenal insight and one that we have to take seriously when we think about human development.’’

Need I say more? So I think we can end with the idiom we started with– “An army marches on in its stomach’. Essentially it means an army can’t fight a war on an empty stomach and needs a good supply of food. But the real truth is our entire body and wellness depends on the fuel we supply it with and the care we give it. So throwing any old thing into your stomach, even if you have a cast iron stomach like the chef ‘Anthony Bourdain’, is going to ‘rock the house’ you live in for better or for worse. And you know what I am talking about don’t you? Because…

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Better late than never I suppose. Now that the country is faced with sky-high obesity rates and an increasing rate of illnesses like diabetes and heart-disease, the FDA has stepped up to the plate, and has officially banned ‘Trans-Fats’ from all processed foods. Is this a sign of wellness culture building momentum? Well, yes and no in my opinion. Yes because it semi-acknowledges the health of our country’s people, but no because it is addressing a societal crisis’ from a ‘monetary’ perspective. See the financial incentives I have excerpted from the LA Times…

In an economic analysis published Tuesday, the FDA estimated that the new PHO regulations could cost the food industry at least $6 billion over the next 20 years, but that the savings from reduced medical care and other benefits during the same period could exceed $130 billion. ~Samantha Bonar

So now that our medical care costs have gone through the roof, we can now ‘ban’ the cheap trans fats the food ‘industry’ has been infusing processed food with. Yes better late than never. We seem to only value ‘people and their health’ when we can attach a monetary cost to them. Why does this upset me so much? Because many people have died early unnecessary deaths because of it. Take a look below at this informative Excerpt from Forbes ( ironically!)

On a calorie by calorie basis, trans fats seem to increase heart disease risk more than any other nutrient, and unlike other fats, sugars, or carbohydrates, they have no nutritional benefit. For every 2% increase in the amount of energy people get from trans fats, their risk of heart disease increased 23%, according to one pooled analysis of four prospective studies involving a total of 140,000 patients. Studies that looked at the relationship between the amount of trans fats in people’s body fat showed an even higher risk.

What’s really terrifying about this is until the FDA mandated that food labels tell consumers how much trans fat was in their snacks in 2006, there was almost no way for someone who was concerned to avoid them. In 2007, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg banned restaurants from using trans fats in cooking. ~Matthew Harper

I can hear all the libertarians and pro capitalism ‘folks’ screaming,’Well nobody made them eat processed foods.”. In some literal sense this may be true, but the fast food/processed food industry had pretty much hijacked our ‘culture’ here in America for the last 30 years. But here is where ‘we the people’ come in. We not only said yes and bought into to processed foods, but we also said yes to a ‘lifestyle’ that prizes making more money, acquiring ‘more stuff’, working more hours and having ‘no time’ to eat home cooked meals. All of this was allowed to happen when we embraced certain values over others and agreed to be defined as ‘consumers’. Think circa 1982, when ‘Wall Street’ and ‘Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous’ in popular media was glamorized and you can understand my point. I saw it all happening around me and it wasn’t a pretty picture. This is only my opinion, and what I really hope to emphasize is ‘culture’ really matters. For better for worse it shapes our lives…

Well, fortunately, I am encouraged and believe we as a culture are becoming more enlightened. Sadly, it’s still the poorest of the poor who clock 80 hour work weeks and are consuming some of the most unhealthiest foods manufactured. We have to make healthy food more available to everyone, and at the very least removing trans-fats is a step in the right direction. But what will they replace the trans-fats with? What other unhealthy ingredients do we have to look out for? There is one good rule and that is to avoid them all together. Don’t eat processed foods! After that, I would recommend if the list of ingredients is longer than two lines filled with words you don’t recognize, to not eat it! Eat simple real foods. Below is an important excerpt from the FDA on what consumers should do if they continue to eat processed foods.

In the meantime, what should the average consumer do if he or she picks up a favorite food and sees that it has trans fat on the Nutrition Facts label? The best thing to do is to consider the amounts of saturated fat and trans fat. Choose the product that has the lowest amounts of these nutrients, Mayne says. Even if a food claims on its packaging to have “0 grams trans fat,” it’s a good idea to look at the ingredients list on the label, says Honigfort. Under current regulations, companies can make that claim if the food contains less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. But if there is partially hydrogenated oil listed among the ingredients, the product will contain a small amount of trans fat. Selecting foods with even small amounts of trans fat can add up to a significant intake. ~FDA

So for all of you World Wise Beauties who are embracing wellness culture and eating fresh whole foods, I have great share for you! Check out the Eat Well Guide a free online directory created by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).where you can search over 25,000 hand-picked restaurants, farms, markets and other sources of local sustainable food. There is also a mapping tool with city guides that allows users to eat well on the go . The guide’s standards for inclusion require businesses to provide food that is fair to workers, safeguards the environment, protects animal welfare, and is healthier for consumers. Now that is wellness culture on a mission! Love their simple but effective tagline and will leave you with it!

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Every Saturday on WWBFacebook I do a “Find Your Spot’ post to hopefully inspire you to do just that. Sometimes I am sharing exotic photos of beautiful islands and palm trees, and other weeks I am sharing a cozy chair in front of a fireplace. The point of the post is to encourage you to ‘find a spot’ where you can relax, breathe and take quiet time for yourself. Sometimes you can find your spot in your mind. I often close my eyes and imagine this slow cruise I took through the Vancouver Islands, passing lush green islands inhabited with sea lions and colorful birds. It was a beautiful sunny 75 degree day, with crystal blue skies and the water was literally gleaming. Total bliss…

What I remember most about that cruise is how my mind just shut down. I did not have a thought on my mind. I just stopped thinking and was completely immersed in the spectacular nature that was all around me. It’s no wonder that I still see the Vancouver Islands like a moving slide-show in my mind. Of course I have many beautiful memories of other trips taken but for some reason that particular Vancouver day comes to my mind. Almost like a meditation, when I picture that day in my mind, I summon up the peaceful endorphins that were flowing through my body that day. I love the Vancouver Islands in British Columbia, and so much, I seriously considered moving there. I have been fortunate to visit many beautiful places in the world, from Paris to the Greek Islands, but it was Vancouver that captured my heart. Do you have a special place that speaks to your heart? I would love to hear about it!

This week’s post is not just about my crush on Vancouver, it is really all about the ‘Geography of Bliss’. This just happens to be a name of a travel book I want to recommend to you as well. But it’s so much more than a typical travel book. The author is in search of what makes us happy, and seeks answers to the most pressing questions of our time. Such as, what are the essential ingredients for the good life? Why are some places happier than others? How are we shaped by our surroundings? Big questions and it all speaks to the heart of what I’m getting at…

You see, Vancouver represents for me, a ‘sense of place’ that makes me feel alive, connected to the world and ‘at home’. I don’t live there for many reasons, and mostly because of family ties. I did find a place to call home, that does provide a little city and a lot of nature, and most importantly makes me feel the ‘bliss’ I felt in Vancouver. Now, when I go for walks, I can always find my spot to relax, unwind and just be. I never feel like I have to ‘get away’ because of the beautiful ‘bucolic’ surroundings of the area I live in. Before my big-city friends get defensive, let me just say there are absolutely beautiful spots to discover in the midst of big cities. I have shared a few ‘spots’ in previous posts about green spaces and cities.

So maybe your ‘bliss’ is being right in the middle of a thriving busy city surrounded by people. Deciding where to live is a pretty big deal, but in today’s modern ‘mobile society’ we often live in places we never imagined we would live. Think about the immigrants who come from all over the world to live in America. All of them are contributing to the beautiful tapestry of American culture.

There is so much to explore about sense of place, finding your spot and the geography of bliss. So, what if you could actively shop and look for your ideal place to live? For many families, there is very important criteria to consider when deciding on where to live and raising kids. We see ‘Best Places to Live’ on the covers of major magazines all the time and they all use very specific criteria. Most often they emphasize median incomes, quality of schools and safety. But lately you are seeing lists that also include green spaces and parks.

If you are single, you have much more freedom to choose where to live. Yet, when you are single, you often want to be around other single people. Over the last twenty years ‘urban’ cities are where young singles flock to. There are so many choices for them, but there’s always the affordability factor. Seniors equally have their own criteria when deciding on where to retire. For some seniors, it’s a matter of just downsizing, and for others it is finding stimulation, culture, and soothing nature to enjoy the rest of their lives. Some seniors actually choose to move to a city from the suburbs, so they can finally enjoy all the wonderful cultural things big cities have to offer, without the hassle of driving.

Well, I have something for everyone! I stumbled upon a great new digital portal called ‘Livability’. Livability explores what makes small-to-medium sized cities great places to live. Through proprietary research studies, engaging articles and original photography and video, they examine topics related to community amenities, education, sustainability, transportation, housing and the economy. It’s a very useful site and when you visit their ‘Find A City’ page you can type in any city and learn more about the city’s demographic makeup and economy. I also love the ‘Moving’ section which offers a lot of practical tools, checklists and guides to help you with your move. Of course my favorite page is ‘The Top 10 Healthiest Cities’ which is always of interest to me.

Are you beginning to see why ‘sense of place’ is so important to bliss and happiness? As the author of ‘Geography of Bliss’ gets to, ‘happiness’ is often ‘baked into’ the culture you live in. After all this talk about sense of place, we also find that ‘culture’ is important and can really effect our state of happiness. In a much wider context, I believe what is really important, is creating wellness culture. In doing so we can create a society that benefits everyone, no matter what our social status or income level is. So what kind of ‘culture’ do you think would make you most happy? To get you thinking about culture and happiness I recommend you join me for WWB’s ‘Book Wise’ Pow-Wow this summer! We are reading ‘Field Guide to Happiness’ which was reviewed most positively by Eric Weiner, the author of ‘Geography of Bliss’!

“Linda Leaming writes with a sweetness and an earned wisdom that goes down as smoothly as a good cup of tea. She is also very funny. If you are alive, or would like to be, read her A Field Guide to Happiness and find joy on every page.” ~Eric Weiner

With all this talk about culture, I want to recommend another portal which is the ‘pioneer’ in portals helping you to decide on where to live. It inspired my ‘Find Your Spot’ posts because it is actually called ‘Find Your Spot’. I used this website many moons ago, and I can tell you it is amazingly detailed, thorough, and ‘spot on’, no pun intended! Do you like a lot of sunny weather? Do you want to live near a college? Do you love the theater? Do you enjoy ethnic restaurants? Do you like spending time at the zoo—as a visitor? lol This website helps you find your ideal hometown by having you take a quick, but comprehensive fun quiz. The quiz is designed to focus on the issues that are really important to you, like climate, culture, crime rates, recreational opportunities, community resources and even the types of geography that you enjoy most. Once you take the quiz, you receive a report about your ideal spot and it covers all the pertinent questions you could have about moving to your ideal spot. Of course the key is answering the questions honestly. It really gets you thinking about what really matters to you and your sense of place.

Your Top Spots

So wherever you roam in life, I hope you always ‘find your spot’. It may be curled up at home on comfy chair reading a good book, or it may be curled up in the arms of the one you love. Just remember, ‘no matter where you go, there you are’ and happiness always starts with YOU deciding to be happy. 😉

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At World Wise Beauty we celebrate ideals for wellness culture everyday but how exciting and hopeful is it, that a non-profit organization created a special GLOBAL WELLNESS DAY to celebrate wellness world-wide. I encourage you to visit their website and learn more about this special day. To get us thinking about the importance of wellness, I thought I would share this important finding from the World Health Organization (WHO). The number one health problem in the world is surprisingly not a virus or a disease. It is actually depression, which is linked to sleeplessness, stress and obesity. WHO also reports that there are 1.6 billion overweight adults globally and that most of the leading diseases are lifestyle induced.

While we spend a lot of time focused on dis-ease here in the west, I am encouraged that integrated medicine and functional medicine disciplines are now gaining traction in our healthcare systems. Because health and wellness is so much more than treating symptoms. Wellness is a state of being. I like to think of it as a ‘harmonized state of mind, body and spirit’. The quote from WHO below, captures the meaning succinctly by using the word ‘complete’. But let’s not focus on ‘perfect’, let’s instead look to ideals as we do at World Wise Beauty. There are so many wellness ideals in the world we can model and learn from. For each of us wellness is a personal and sometimes spiritual practice. We all have an inner-guru that knows what’s best for us. This is why being ‘Comfortable in Your Own Skin’ is so important, because when we are, we have a healthy relationship with ourselves, and love ourselves inside and out.

I particularly love the GEN-W section of the Global Wellness website because it focuses on children. They state, “Childhood obesity levels are running at more than 10% in all countries except Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Ireland and the United States are the only countries in which more than 25% of children report exercising for at least an hour a day.” ( The ‘one hour a day’ criterion used here follows the recommendations of the World Health Organization.) It all starts with childhood and if we want a healthy and productive society, our children’s education and health should be our top commitment.

Below is the 7 Step Manifesto from the Global Wellness initiative. As you can see, the steps to wellness are fairly easy and almost simple. Wellness wisdom has always been available to us, it’s just about making it a ‘culture’ in our lives. If we all adopt wellness lifestyle habits at home, the ‘culture of wellness’ will spread. Here’s hoping that ‘Global Wellness Day’ inspires you, and you in turn inspire others to live a healthy lifestyle. ‘One day’ full of ideas and inspiration can change the whole world!

Excerpt from Global Wellness Day…

In order to make Wellness a lifestyle, Global Wellness Day aims to adopt the following seven simple steps. What is important is not to implement all of the steps all at once, but to incorporate at least just a few of them into your daily life on a regular basis.